From C.J. Cherryh, one of science fiction′s greatest writers and a 3-time Hugo Award "Best Novel" winner, comes the exciting and long-awaited follow-up to Hammerfall, the second novel of the Gene Wars, now in mass market. In the second volume of "The Gene Wars," C. J. Cherryh further explores the captivating new universe where two interstellar empires, scarred by nanotechnology weaponry, hover in an uneasy detente. Perched at the edge of the galaxy, tiny Concord Station holds the balance of the universe within its carefully regulated worlds. For, created to carefully monitor the crucial desert planet below, it lies in the tenuous intersection between the territories of Earth and the alien Ondat. Marak Trin Tain has saved a planet′s people from total destruction, when the implacable ondat sent down a hammerfall to destroy the planet and keep its deadly nanoceles from changing life and evolution forever. But the regrowing planet is fragile, and a deadly cataclysm could destroy Marak--and with him, the hope for peace within the universe. Meanwhile, on Concord, an unexpected ship from Earth disrupts the uneasy truces between human and alien, and the consequences could restart the terrible Gene Wars that once destroyed most of humanity.

Colin McElreath, Viscount Grantham, has sold his soul to the devil—a devil of an irate English father. For cash. Colin is about to become a very wealthy man—a very wealthy married man. The powerful Baron Davies urgently requires a respectable husband for Gillian, his disgraced daughter, and he sees Colin as the perfect candidate. When Colin balks, Davies isn't above using his daughter's large dowry as an incentive—or applying a bit of blackmail. He threatens to expose the undercover work the Free Fellows do for the government, and as a charter member of the Free Fellow League, Colin has sworn to protect the League at all cost. Also someone has been masquerading as Colin, which indirectly landed Gillian in her predicament, so Colin is faced with no choice. He doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry at the irony. After a lifetime of avoiding society misses, he is about to marry one. Miss Gillian Davies is about to become a blushing bride. And Colin McElreath is merely the groom ...

"In Jimmy Santiago Baca's haunting story collection, intricate family dramas . . . play out against the luminous, wide-open backdrop of New Mexico." —Los Angeles Times In his first foray into short fiction, award-winning poet and memoirist Jimmy Santiago Baca explores the territory where old-world traditions meet new-world ambitions, and characters try to make something of themselves, while keeping their souls intact. In "Matilda's Garden," an old farmer pines for his wife of fifty years who died in her sleep one-night months before. He is lured to the garden in the middle of the night by what he thinks is her presence, only to meet a gruesome fate. In "The Importance of a Piece of Paper," two siblings must face the brother who has betrayed them by selling his share of the family land, leaving an entire community vulnerable. In "The Three Sons of Julia," a long-suffering mother whose one request is that all her sons come home for the Fourth of...

Despite the title, the stories collected here recount cases from the middle of Miss Marple's career. They are: 'Sanctuary'; 'Strange Jest'; 'Tape-Measure Murder'; 'The Case of the Caretaker'; 'The Case of the Perfect Maid'; 'Miss Marple Tells a Story'; 'The Dressmaker's Doll'; 'In a Glass Darkly'; 'Greenshaw's Folly.'Review'When it all becomes clear as day, the reader can only say, "Now why didn't I think of that?" But he never does. Miss Christie at her best.' Springfield Republican Review'When it all becomes clear as day, the reader can only say, "Now why didn't I think of that?" But he never does. Miss Christie at her best.' Springfield Republican

Laird of an ancient Scottish clan, Duncan Macrae also possesses the secret powers of the Guardians--humans with mystical abilities to control nature's forces and see into the hearts of others. Duncan has sworn to use his abilities for the greater good, but duty is eclipsed when he meets the dazzling, independent English widow Gwyneth Owens. Though Gwynne's father was a Guardian, she believes that she has inherited only her mother's beauty, not her father's power. Then one kiss from the dangerously alluring Duncan ignites a passion that shakes her to the soul--and reveals a looming catastrophe that threatens both their nations. Only by becoming Duncan's wife, and ultimately betraying the man she loves, can she avert disaster. As fate casts them onto opposing sides, Gwynne and Duncan must push their powers and passions beyond the most forbidden limits if they are to save their love--and secure the future.

Claire Parks fought her way back from the brink of death and now it’s time to celebrate and paint the town red—or at least pink.  Letting herself be seduced by a rugged lumberjack who exudes sex appeal seems like just what the doctor ordered. Little does Claire know that the smoldering stranger is undercover police detective Bud Morrison.When Claire’s life is threatened, Bud leaps into action. Rescuing women is what Bud does best and he pulls out all the stops. He knows just how to protect her, and he’ll do whatever it takes, including keeping her under lock and key. But Claire has fought too hard for life to let herself be locked away and treated like blown glass.She’s flesh and blood, and all woman. Bud will have to meet her halfway if he wants to make her his, and if they’re to have a hope in hell of outrunning the danger at their heels... Note: This book was originally published by Ellora's Cave and is an...

It is 4034. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young & fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony— Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war threatening to overwhelm everything & everyone he's ever known.

Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Until the day he learns about the "squip." A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear, to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from Supergeek to superchic. Now an off-Broadway musical! Alternate cover: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Famine wracks 2nd century Rome. Food riots rage in the streets, and the emperor struggles to hold on to power in the midst of a burgeoning coup. He recalls the German Legion to Rome to restore order. Unbeknownst to him, a hidden evil slips into the city along with the returning Legion. As civil war boils over and black magics run unchecked, an ancient horror stirs from its dreams, finally roused after eons of slumber.

'This book, about deep and complex family love from this accomplished author, is told with true passion' Family Circle Relative Love is a heart-rending story of loss and love, covering one year in the lives of the Harrison family, a sprawling clan doing their best to hold together in the face of a changing world. The story opens as the Harrisons gather for Christmas at their big country house. But when tragedy strikes, of the most unforeseeable and devastating kind, they are torn apart. Harsh truths emerge, about the past as well as the present, laying bare the fragility of their happiness and all that they have taken for granted.Praise for Amanda Brookfield:'There should have been a trumpet fanfare when this book was launched, for Amanda Brookfield is, surely, the queen of the relationship novel. I have read (and enjoyed) all her previous books but this one is - in my opinion - the best. It is the story of how apparently even secure relationships can fall...

In the blur of hazy nights and hedonistic parties, a boy and a girl have a gripping relationship - one of self-abandonment, control, and neglect. As he wants to take more of her, she plunges into the abyss of suffering, unable to say no yet finding inexplicable pleasure in his free-spirited nature and beautiful body. As the story progresses, and she submits more and more to his desires, her body starts protesting with the signs of an unknown disease. But telling him to stop doesn't work and they continue the vicious cycle of self-inflicted pain. Pimenta Citrica masterfully describes the emotional journey of her characters while maintaining immense sexual tension throughout the story. This is a tale of pain and pleasure that despite the story's fictional nature makes you believe all of it was real.

February 1945. In his bunker in Berlin, Hitler makes a desperate decision. He will deploy the V3 - a weapon so secret that its lethal nature is unclear even to the slave labourers constructing it deep beneath the Channel Island of Alderney.June 1990. Workmen on Alderney mysteriously start to fall sick. Journalist Robert Lebonneur believes he knows why. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more he realises he is up against the same deadly forces that caused so much upheaval nearly half a century ago...